Pun Salad

I was (apparently) in the mood for a Saturday Night Live alumnus-written book. I enjoyed Kevin Nealon's roles over the years, especially as one of the Austrian bodybuilders "Hans and Franz". (I forget which one he was.) He was a decent newsreader on the "Weekend Update" segment. I thought "Mr. Subliminal" was hilarious. So, why not?

The book is not so much a memoir as it is Nealon's recollections/impressions of other folks, most of whom he rubbed shoulders with in the wide world of SNL and general celebrityness. The book's gimmick is that Nealon is a decent caricaturist, and there are dozens of his full-color works here, one or more for each subject.

As I said, he's met most of them. Some of them not; for example, there's a piece about Timothée Chalamet and Daisy Edgar-Jones, present only because he admires their talents. Humphrey Bogart shows up because Kevin got Lauren Bacall to tell him some stories about her life with Bogie.

But the best stories are the ones where Nealon recounts his own interactions with his subjects. This can get pretty funny; don't miss the yarns about Arnold Palmer or Brad Paisley. But, despite being a professional comedian, Nealon doesn't go out of his way to be funny here.

As far as the art goes, they're all recognizable. Except the portrait of Jennifer Aniston (page 161); I looked at it and said "Really? That looks more like… who is that other actress that I've seen in stuff?"

And a few hours later, I got it: Rosamund Pike! (At my age, it takes my brain a while to sort through its mental images.) Check for yourself; am I crazy?

To be fair, he did a better Jen approximation on Twitter